Surely the believers and the Jews, Nazareans and the Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last Day, and whosoever does right, shall have his reward with his Lord and will neither have fear nor regret. 62 Remember the day We made the covenant with you and exalted you on the Mount and said: "Hold fast to what We have given you, and remember what is therein that you may take heed." 63 Then you turned back after that; so were it not for the grace of Allah and His mercy on you, you would certainly have been among the losers. 64 You certainly knew about those among you who were transgressors on the Sabbath. We commanded them, "Become detested apes," 65 So We made this incident (of that town) a warning to the surrounding towns (others of their time) and to succeeding generations, and a lesson for the pious. 66 When Moses said to his nation: 'Allah commands you to slaughter a cow' they replied: 'Are you taking us in mockery?' 'I seek protection with Allah lest I should be one of the ignorant' he said. 67 They said, "Call upon your Lord for us that He may make plain to us what it is!" He said, "He says, 'Verily, it is a cow neither too old nor too young, but (it is) between the two conditions', so do what you are commanded." 68 But they further asked, "Please request your Lord to make it clear to us of what colour she should be." Moses answered, "He says that she should be of yellow colour, so deep and bright as to delight the beholders." 69 "Call on your Lord," they said, "to name its variety, as cows be all alike to us. If God wills we shall be guided aright." 70 Moses answered, "Allah says that she should be a cow which has not been yoked nor has ploughed the land nor watered the fields; which is sound and whole, without belemish. " Then they cried out, "Now you have given an accurate description. " Then they sacrificed her but they did not appear to be doing this willingly. 71